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Hogg Foundation News ClipsHogg Foundation for Mental Health

April, 2010

Today’s Clips – April 9, 2010

This summary of recent news and research articles on mental health topics was prepared as a public service by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. Stories from other media sources do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the foundation and its staff.

To subscribe to this service or to change your subscription, please contact Hogg-Communications@austin.utexas.edu. Media sites may require a one-time free registration and academic and science journal sites may require a paid subscription to access articles.

TEXAS NEWS

SAN ANTONIO – Two of San Antonio’s oldest nonprofit organizations have merged to increase the accessibility of mental health care services for children ages 3-17. Southwest Mental Health Center and Child Guidance Center of San Antonio have now combined their inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment programs to form the new Clarity Child Guidance Center.

UT-Houston will lead e-records push; $30 million grant also will help doctors install electronic systems

Houston Chronicle

April 9, 2010

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will get more than $30 million from the federal government to direct the Gulf Coast region's push to digitize all medical records, an attempt to end the inefficiency and errors that result from the current system's reliance on paperwork.

TYLER, Texas (AP) — A man accused of dropping more than 30 explosive devices into mailboxes and other locations across east Texas did so out of anger toward the government and was acting alone, federal authorities said Thursday. … North, 52, of Henderson, remained jailed after a brief hearing Thursday in federal court during which a judge granted court-appointed defense attorney Ken Hawk's request for a mental competency exam.

EL PASO -- Troops battered by explosions in distant combat zones are now required to undergo brain injury screening before returning to duty, say experts at a Defense Department center created to deal with brain injuries and stress disorders. …Requiring everyone involved in an explosion to receive a medical evaluation removes some of the stigma of self-reporting, said experts with the Washington, D.C.,-based Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

EL PASO -- District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez, running for re-election Tuesday in the Democratic primary runoff, is to have a mental competency court hearing today to determine whether he can assist his lawyers in a criminal trial.

PHARR — Police are trying to find out why a 14-year-old boy was stabbed and left in critical condition Thursday evening. Investigators suspect 34-year-old Jose Torres stabbed the teen about 5:30 p.m. on St. Marie Drive in Las Milpas colonia, although a motive has not yet been determined. Torres was arrested on one count of criminal attempted murder. …“There are preliminary reports that (Torres) was receiving attention for mental health,” Villescas said.

NATIONAL NEWS

Amnesty: US guilty of Katrina-related abuses

Austin American-Statesman

April 9, 2010

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states have consistently violated the human rights of hurricane victims since Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people and caused widespread devastation after striking in August 2005, Amnesty International said Friday. … "Orleans Parish Prison is now the largest mental health psych facility in the city of New Orleans."

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Corporation for Supportive Housing have announced the launch of a $5.2 million initiative to continue building permanent supportive housing for homeless people in Los Angeles.

ALBANY — College-sponsored health plans often pay out far less in benefits than they collect in premiums, skirting state regulations and shortchanging students, according to an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office. Many plans also do not cover common situations that affect students, including injuries sustained in suicide attempts or while drunk.

LINCOLN — Women who are told they risk mental health problems after an abortion would be given places to turn, under a measure advanced Wednesday by state lawmakers. An amendment to Legislative Bill 594 would require the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to maintain a list of outpatient and crisis intervention services for such women.

JEFFERSON CITY - Demonstrators gathered outside of the State Capitol Thursday to have their voice heard about their objections to the state budget. Members of AFSCME, or the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, gathered in front of the State Capitol to oppose cuts to the state's mental health programs and potential job cuts at Fulton State Hospital.

A reorganization of state-run mental health facilities proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration is drawing increasing fire around the Capitol, as health care leaders in the House said Thursday that they would seek final say on any such move.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

AMA Calls For Stronger Service System For People At Risk Of Suicide, Australia

Medical News Today

April 9, 2010

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that better targeted support is needed for population groups that are at higher risk of suicide, including young people, those living in rural and remote locations, Indigenous Australians, and the elderly.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184838.php

OPINIONS

Stopping prison rape: Rape is a crime. Corrections officers, of all people, need to know that

Houston Chronicle

April 9, 2010

Even by the standards of the Texas justice system, the number of rapes committed in our prisons is astounding. … Most often, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics surveys, the rapists are corrections staff. The prisoners most at risk tend to be the weakest: women, gay men, juvenile offenders, the mentally disabled, the physically small and those new to life behind bars.

As a licensed mental health counselor and certified expert in traumatic stress, I am appalled that a 20-minute one-on-one session or a group meeting of 30 soldiers with a behavioral health provider is the Army’s answer to providing more care for returning vets.

ACADEMIC & MEDICAL RESEARCH

Postpartum Depression and Low Income Urban Moms

Psych Central News

April 9, 2010

A recent research study concludes that low income moms in urban areas face a much greater chance of depression after giving birth. An astonishing 50% of moms may develop postpartum depression from the time their child is a newborn until they are 14 months old.

Virginia Tech University is using a progressive method to help train students to be emotionally present during therapy sessions. The university is integrating mindfulness meditation into its Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program curriculum.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that USFDA has granted its subsidiary an approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Wellbutrin SR® Extended Release tablets.

Patients with bipolar disorder have reduced serum levels of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), suggesting this neurotrophic factor plays a role in the pathophysiology of the condition, say researchers in China.

Serum glycine levels are associated with the intensity of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, researchers have found. As glycine acts as an endogenous selective co-agonist at the glycine modulatory site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, the team says the findings “suggest a possible implication of NMDA receptor dysfunction in the pathogenesis of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.”

FEATURES & RESOURCES

Online tools help 50+ crowd navigate health reform

Houston Chronicle

April 8, 2010

AARP, the association for Americans 50 and older, has contributed to two new online resources designed to help older adults figure out health reform and to promote preventive services. … AARP joined the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to produce a recent report about bringing preventive health services for working-age older adults to neighborhood gathering places, such as houses of workshop, polling places, community center and barber shops.

New research shows that less than half of former foster youth are employed at 23, and only six percent have finished college. Mark Courtney, research and development director at Partners For Our Children, and Jeremy Long, who aged out of foster care three years ago at 18, talk about the challenges facing foster kids as they grow up.